Events

    ¡Celebremos El Salvador!

    Location: 

    Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Celebrate the vibrant culture and natural history of El Salvador. Enjoy captivating folk dances by Grupo Torogoz and try hands-on activities including corn grinding and painting with cochineal insects. Go on a scavenger hunt and discover the rich heritage of animals, minerals, and artifacts from the region. Join an archaeologist for a live-streamed tour of Joya de Cerén, the Pompeii of Latin America. Take a break with Spanish Story Time, enjoy traditional Salvadoran cuisine (available for purchase), and enter a raffle to win a museum gift basket.

    All are welcome to explore,...

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    Second Sundays at the Arnold Arboretum

    Location: 

    Peters Hill, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Bring your family and friends to Peters Hill for an afternoon of free tours, crafts, family activities, and more! Did we mention free ice cream and bubbles? Free activities open to all ages include:

    • Tours of Peters Hill offered in both English and Spanish

    • Plant information tents featuring wildflowers and plant defenses, fascinating Arboretum plant highlights, know-how of Arboretum experts, and a rich assortment of cuttings to view up close

    • Ice cream, art activities, lawn games, StoryWalks®, and more!...

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    2023 May 07

    Guided Tours at Arnold Arboretum

    Repeats every week on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday until Tue May 30 2023 except Sun May 14 2023, Tue May 16 2023, Sun May 28 2023, Mon May 29 2023.
    (All day)

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join us for a walk through the Arboretum! Tour seasonal plant highlights and learn about Arboretum history from a trained docent. Tour is 90 minutes long.

    Tour times are at 10:30am or 1:00pm, depending on availability.

    Learn more and RSVP.

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    Tour: Frederick Law Olmsted and the Arnold Arboretum

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Frederick Law Olmsted, considered the father of landscape architecture, designed some 500 public spaces in North America. The Arnold Arboretum, the only arboretum he designed, is a National Historic Landmark and a model for others around the world. Arboretum docent, Bill Beizer, will identify the elements of the Arnold Arboretum that best reflect Olmsted's philosophy and approach to landscape design.

    Learn more...

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    Art Workshop | Botanical Cyanotype

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Learn how to make beautiful seasonal cards and prints using the alternative photography method known as Cyanotype. Participants will collect leaves and seeds in the landscape and arrange them on special paper to create a deep blue print with bright, ghost-white silhouettes. This historic photography method, otherwise known as blueprints (sunprints), is one of the earliest forms of photography, and offers participants the ability to perform something that seems like magic.

    Led by Tonya Lemos of Blazing Star Herbal School.

    This workshop will take place...

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    MassQ Ball 2022: Origin

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    The MassQ Ball 2022: Origin will feature the diverse artistic expressions of Boston’s communities of color. Interact with the landscape in new and creative ways, transform into a walking work of art through the practice of MassQing (a ritual application of paint to the face derived from ancient traditions of body decoration), and enjoy performances and art work by Boston cultural artists including:

    2:00pm–4:00pm:

    • ...

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    MassQ Ball 2022: Origin | Making of Ceremonial Vessels

    Location: 

    Hemlock Hill and Conifer Collection, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Led by Bengali culture worker Pampi, this audience participatory workshop allows attendees to weave love letters into hand-crafted ceremonial vessels for their loved ones. Vessels will be fashioned out of natural materials sourced from the Arboretum grounds and displayed in the MassQ Ball on July 9.

    Learn more and RSVP for this event.

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    2022 May 02

    Art Exhibit | Stoneroot Epistle: Collage and Words in Conversation

    Repeats every week on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday until Sat Jun 25 2022 .
    12:00pm to 4:00pm

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum (Hunnewell Visitor Center), 125 Arborway, Boston

    Visit the Arnold Arboretum's newly reopened Hunnewell Visitor Center and immerse yourself in this truly unique exhibition. The book, Stoneroot Epistle, was born out of Joyce Swagerty (Harvard class of '78) and Daina Swagerty's desire to understand the connection between themselves, the natural world, and the universal journey inspired by the African diaspora. The project by this mother and daughter was a spiritual adventure.

    ...

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    Harvard Dance Center Showing: Initiation – In Love Solidarity

    Location: 

    Harvard Dance Center—Online or in-person

    Initiation – In Love Solidarity is a choreographic narrative exploring the embodiment of the Middle Passage, and the resilience and evolving identities of women in the African diaspora. A film component of the work was created at historic sites in New England related to the transatlantic slave trade and emancipation. The imagery of the cowrie shell is present throughout, chosen as an emblem of the transformative identity of the Black female body.

    Saturday, November 13, 4pm & 7pm: ...

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    In the Groves

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Immerse yourself in the deep beauty of trees in this story and music journey through the Arboretum. Led by Oracle award-winning storyteller Diane Edgecomb and Celtic harper Margot Chamberlain, this unfolding performance of ancient tales and songs from cultures around the world takes place in a variety of groves—birch, cherry, and evergreen—at some of the Arboretum’s loveliest spots.

    This event is free, but registration is required and limited. Not designed for children under 12, and dogs are not allowed. COVID guidelines will be followed.

    ...

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    "Every Pecan Tree": Trees, Meaning, and Memory in Enslaved People’s Lives

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum—Online

    This is the third lecture in the Arnold Arboretum's 2021 Director's Lecture Series. Tiya Miles takes up the pecan tree as inspiration for exploring the meaning of trees in the lives of enslaved African Americans. Using a family heirloom, slave narratives, oral histories, and missionary records, her talk underscores the importance of trees in the Black experience of captivity and resistance, ultimately revealing the centrality of the natural world to Black, and indeed human, survival.

    ...

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    A History of Path-Making at the Arnold Arboretum

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum—Online

    At the time of its founding in 1872, the land on which the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is sighted was a patchwork of farmland and forest. As the Arboretum was planted, pathways were developed to lead people through the picturesque landscape. As the landscape developed, economies shifted, wars took place, and directors changed. Each of these factors subtly influenced shifts in the park’s path system. Join the Arnold Arboretum on Zoom with Jared Rubinstein as he reveals the layers of change in this beloved landscape.

    ...

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